Manufacturer of Semi Auto Rifles Officially Leaving Connecticut Due to New Gun Laws

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Bristol, CT based PTR Industries has announced they will be relocating their 45+ employee, multi-million dollar manufacturing operation to South Carolina due to Connecticut’s recent passage of strict gun control laws.

PTR will be moving to Aynor, SC, near Myrtle Beach. The company is receiving attractive building lease incentives and possibly other incentives during the relocation, which is expected to have an economic impact of millions of dollars on the area.

PTR — code-named “Project Phazer” by Horry County — will maintain an investment of $8 million and at least 145 employees through 2025 to benefit from a lease agreement that the company is completing with the county, according to a county resolution approved Tuesday.

Wages for the 145 employees at the company need to average at least $19.39 an hour, the resolution said, and the investment and jobs need to be in place by the end of December 2016.

Brad Lofton, CEO of the Myrtle Beach Regional Economic Development Corp., said that PTR has agreed to all the terms in the county council resolution, which provides for the company to lease the building that will eventually be deeded to it by Horry County.

PTR said their employees are on board with the move, with enthusiastically supporting it.

Other Connecticut firearms manufacturers, including Stag Arms, a popular maker of AR-15 style rifles, are also eyeing moves to other states. Some states, such as Texas, are actually lobbying to get gun manufacturers to relocate to their state.